When Ky and Boomer reached Team Radikor they already got the kairu energy and were about to drain it from the scarab.

"Maya," Boomer called, "Stop!"

"I knew we should've finished them off," Zane grumbled.

"Think about what you're doing," Ky began as he and Boomer stood in front of Team Radikor, "You've been fighting against Lokar for all your life, now you're joining him? This isn't you…"

"Maybe I wanted to join a team that appreciates me," Maya sneered. It was true, Techris and Zair were grateful to have Maya on their team. Only Zane wasn't too happy as Lokar made her the new team leader.

"But Maya," Boomer whined, "We're your friends…"

"Looks like we don't have a choice, I really don't want to do this but," Ky sighed, "Kairu challenge!"

"Well," Maya replied, "Challenge accepted." All the teams bowed and grabbed their X-Readers to begin the battle.

When Nox happened upon the scene she found the two teams already engaged in battle. Seeing how Boaddai told her that she was forbidden to fight she leaned against a stone wall nearby and watched. It was obvious Team Radikor had the upper hand. Nox's eyes searched for Maya. Maya was already transformed into Hairier, a large, green bird-humanoid type creature. She was forcefully attacking Ky and Boomer with her Fire Tornado attack. The swirling flames sucked up the boys and threw them against the hard stone pyramid. Seeing this happen Nox couldn't help smiling; Maya had gotten stronger and her skills were growing rapidly. "Come on, Ky," Zair sang with laughter as she blasted him with an attack, "is that all you've got?" Ky was thrown to the dusty ground in the desert known as Egypt. The dust caught in his throat making him cough.

"Solar Wind!" Boomer yelled while he used his inner kairu to blow Zair away from Ky. Zair was taken off of her feet and hit a stone wall which broke under the force and crumbled beneath her.

The battle still raged on until Zane noticed Nox leaning lazily against the slowly eroded wall. Zane blasted Team Stax with his powerful Degeneration attack and laughed like a madman, "Not so tough now, are you Ky?" Zair, Techris, and Maya laughed as well. "Hey," Zane growled, "who are you? I've seen you somewhere before…" He couldn't remember where he had seen the snowy-white haired woman before.

"Ah," Nox chuckled, "that's a good question."

"Wait a second," Techris took his eyes off of Team Stax who lay motionless on the ground, "you're the lady who asked for that doll after we drained it of its kairu energy!" He sounded angry.

"Yeah," Zair snarled, "I'd remember that hair and eyes anywhere!" She stood akimbo staring intently at Nox.

"Nox," Maya said transforming back into a human, "did Boaddai send you?" She was snarky and defiant.

"Nah," Nox stepped out from the shade and smirked, "thought I'd do some sightseeing, maybe catch some rays…"

"So are you like on Team Stax or something?" Zane asked. He wanted to know whether or not it was allowed to fight her. It was against the code to battle anyone not on the opposing team while already in a battle.

"No," Nox answered curtly to the green skinned boy. "So Maya," Nox turned to the teen, "I see you found yourself a new team."

"I did," Maya smirked, "why do you care?"

Once again Nox saw the sarcastic side of Maya. And Nox couldn't help but smile, "What's with the attitude? Normally I'm the snarky and contemptuous one…"

Zane growled, "Enough! If you're here to battle then you're in for it!"

Zane was about to attack Nox but she only let out a sift chuckle, "Sorry, but I recently became a pacifist. I don't fight." Nox then let out a sigh, "Here's a bit of advice, never take your eyes off your opponent and always be aware of your surroundings."

"What are you-" before Zair could finish, a powerful beam of energy hit Team Radikor throwing them off their feet. Had Team Radikor been paying attention they would have noticed Nox's conversation was only a ploy; one of deceit. Ky and Boomer had just enough time from Nox's distraction to recover and continue the battle.

"You sneaky-" Zane roared but was cut off by a powerful blast of red plasma.

"Watch your language!" Ky shouted. He had attacked Zane with his Plasma Blast. While Ky took out Zane, Boomer went to distract Zair, Techris and Maya. Ky ran over to Zane's unconscious body. Once he reached his destination, Ky began looking through his former friend's X-Reader. "This has got to be it…" he muttered when he came upon the X-Drive called, Lokar's Shadow. "But how do I reverse the effects?" He wondered out loud.

"Perhaps," Nox asserted, "you should try using it on her again…" She stood behind Ky as the boy crouched at the side of Zane's motionless body.

Ky jerked, "Are you crazy?"

"Possibly…"

"Using the attack on her for a second time will only make things worse!" Ky shouted at Nox.

"It's like math, Ky. Two negatives make a positive," Nox looked away towards Maya, "It might work."

"Nox," Ky frowned, "if you're wrong about this, you'll pay for this…"

"I'm so terrified…" Nox scoffed.

Clenching his fists, Ky took a moment to debate amongst himself whether or not to use the attack. Meanwhile, the battle raged on. Boomer was doing the best he could. Finally he was able to knock out Maya with his Blizzard Axes attack.

"Boomer," Ky ran towards Maya, "get out of the way!" Boomer did as he was told. "Lokar's Shadow!" Ky used the ominous attack on Maya. A screaming shadow swallowed Maya. Purple aura surrounded Maya.

You can pull through Maya, Nox thought, but you have to want it. You have to want to be on their side…

Seconds later Maya's eyes shot open. "Guys?" she said groggily as she sat up, "What's going on?"

"You joined Lokar…" Ky tried to explain, "Team Radikor used some sort of attack on you."

"Wow…" Maya could remember everything. It was like she wasn't in control of her actions when she was working for Lokar.

"Maya!" Boomer smiled, "You're back!" He pulled Ky and Maya into a group hug. Nox stood outside of their circle. She did not join in, but rather watched the friends reunite. Nox smiled. Maya had some nice friends. Ones she could always count on to be there.

"It feels good to be back," she smiled. It did. She felt so much better, lighthearted. Her eyes landed on Nox, she smiled.

"I'm glad you're back on our side. Now, let's finish this battle," Ky exclaimed. And battle they did.

"Maya," Mookee screeched, "You're back!" he ran to hug her, but nearly tripped over his overly grown hair, as they boarded the X-Scaper. Once he got back up he carefully ran and hugs Maya's legs.

"Yes I am," she smiled. Maya hugged the small orange creature.

"Does this mean you're not evil? You're good?" He hugged her legs tighter.

"Yes," She pats Mookee's small head.

Mookee pulled back and all of a sudden his long mustache hair shortened to its normal length, "Wonderful," he smiled, "then my worrying has come to an end!"

Walking leisurely over to one of the chairs Nox sat down and grumbled, "Mookee or Boomer… Somebody fly us back to the monastery… I'm tired and my bed is calling my name…"

Ky frowned. He hated how Nox ordered them about. But he had to admit, she could have gloated about being right. But Nox did not. She didn't care that she was right. Boomer went to the pilots chair and flew the X-Scaper while Mookee cleaned up the hair he had cut off. The X-Scaper was littered with it. Ky walked off to another part of the ship. He didn't want to be in the same room as Nox. Maya sat down next to Nox. She needed someone to talk to, someone who knew about the darker side of kairu. "Nox?" she asked humbly.

"Yes?" Nox asked tiredly. As happy as she was that Maya was safe and sound Nox couldn't express it. She was far too tired. Nox was running off of four hours of sleep and was beginning to feel the effects of it.

"When I was… When I went evil… It felt…" she didn't know what to say. Maya couldn't describe how it felt.

"It felt interesting didn't it?" Nox looked at her friend with soft eyes.

"Yeah… I heard a voice… Like it was mine but it wasn't me. It called to me through the dark. It made me had bad thoughts, Nox," she was afraid; terrified. She wanted to be good, not evil.

"Maya…" Nox thought about how to explain this. It took her years to understand the concept of good and evil. Maya wanted to learn it the easy way. "There is good and evil inside us all. Everyone is capable of doing both good and bad things."

"But how do we stop ourselves from doing bad things!" Maya pleaded.

Nox let out a troubled sigh, "You can't. We all do bad things every once in a while. Just try to focus on the good side of your heart. But don't be a fool and forget you have a shadow."

Finally when Team Stax plus Nox returned back at the monastery, they found Boaddai meditating by the tree. "Maya," he exclaimed.

"Hello, Master B," Maya smiled. As Team Stax recounted the events Nox stood in the background. Once she had decided that Team Stax had the story telling under control Nox left for her room.

Nox flung open the door to her room. Making her way over to her bed she flops down on top of it. Not even bothering to straighten out the blankets. Nor did she didn't even bother to take off her trench coat, something she cared deeply about. Though she was drowsy and sleep deprived Nox was suddenly over taken by a familiar sensation. "Nox," a shadow loomed over the woman, "why is it you're always getting in the way of my plans?"

"That's a fine hello…" Nox said groggily.

"Why do you have to be so sassy?" the older man teased.

"I thought you liked my righteous sass…"

Lokar let out a throaty chuckle, "I do enjoy our little talks." Then he like out a disgruntled sigh, "You didn't answer my question."

"Maya's not ready to deal with her demons nor find out you're her grandfather, Lokar," Nox mumbled through her pillow. She didn't even pick up her head.

Lokar frowned. Nox had no right to get in the way of his plans. But she did have a point. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a book on the girl's desk. He smiled; he knew what book it was. "You should try getting more sleep, Nox," Lokar saw how tried the woman was.

"You know I can't handle the nightmares…" Nox confided.

Frowning Lokar thought for a few seconds. "You never should've left," Lokar answered back. Nox's depression had gotten better. But then she left everything they had trained and worked for. But more importantly she left him.

"I'm too tired for this…" hissed a sleepy Nox.

Glowering at Nox's response Lokar snapped, "You never had a reason to leave. You just left. After all the things we did together. You left."

"Lokar…" Nox rolled over to look at the man. She did not see someone who was angry. Lokar was hurt. "I had to…"

"No you didn't," he snarled.

"Can we please not talk about this now," Nox begged. Though she was not one to beg but tonight she wanted nothing more than to sleep, no matter how bad the nightmares got. "I'm tired…"

"I want to talk about this now," he demanded. Nobody left him, not without a reason. From what he could tell, Nox had no reason to leave.

Nox sat up and looked at Lokar with tired, defeated eyes, "I was afraid…"

"Of what?" Lokar questioned. Have I done something wrong unintentionally? He wondered.

"I was afraid…" Nox gulped. She found these words difficult to say, "I was afraid that I was falling in love." Nox resented that word with passion. Not the meaning of it, no she resented that word for a different reason.

"Nox…" Lokar tried. He couldn't understand what Nox meant. "Why are you afraid to love?"

"I'm afraid of getting my heart torn out. I don't want to have that happen, again… I don't need more pain… There's just too much to lose..." she tried to bite back her tears. Because Nox finally said the words she could never say.

"Nox…" Lokar sat down on the bed with Nox. Putting an arm around Nox Lokar pulled her as close as he could without hurting the woman. Nox let the act die. She silently sobbed in his arms. After some time the two ended up laying down cuddling together. Lokar had wrapped his cloak around each other. Once Nox's tears subsided Lokar kissed her forehead.

"You know, Lokar," Nox murmured softly, "I suppose if I had to choose, I think I'd rather you to break my heart than anyone else…"

Lokar let out a sigh, "I have no intentions of hurting you." Once again they lay in a warm silence.

"You should probably get going…" Nox frowned, "If Boaddai find you, us together like this he'll have a conniption…"

"Very well," Lokar grudgingly agreed. He didn't want to leave Nox, not when he knew she was hurting on the inside. "Until next time, my dear," he kissed Nox. Grabbing his cloak he said beguilingly, "You can always come back home with me."

"Goodbye Lokar," Nox yawned.

"You can't blame a man for trying..." Lokar sighed, "Then it is until next time." With that he disappeared in a purple fuzz of light.

Nox removed he trench coat and pulled the messy blankets over her. Once she got comfortable she fell right to sleep. And for the first time in a long time Nox had a good dream instead of her usual nightmare.